I did feel more and more disconnected from his character's behavior in the sequels, sad to say. But let's look at the progression of what they did to begin and end the movies:

BB - Opens with a flashback of young Bruce Wayne. Ends with Batman.
TDK - Opens with an elaborate segment featuring The Joker. Ends with Batman.
TDRK - Opens with an elaborate segment featuring Bane. Ends with John Blake.

I mean, analyzing what the writers did here says a lot about their shifting priorities as time went on, though Bale did get in a bit more to do (as Bruce Wayne, anyway) in TDKR than TDK.

In TDK I suppose it's easy to find The Joker more interesting, but Bale, and the character of Bruce Wayne, blew me away in TDKR.

The fact that Bruce is in so much pain, both mentally and physically, throughout the film makes his character very relatable and appealing. Characters who ultimately succeed but are put through pain and suffering along their journeys are the best kinds of characters, and Bruce was one of them.

It's like Mark Hamill with Star Wars. He may have been playing the main character but the supporting cast/characters were far more interesting like Han Solo, Darth Vader, Yoda, Ben Kenobi etc. Bale may be playing the titular character but he's not the one most people are interested in. I barely recall seeing him even mentioned in critics reviews of TDK/TDKR. TDK and The Empire Strikes Back in particular are great comparisons as The Joker completely steals the whole film in the same way Empire becomes Vader's movie.

Luckily for Bale though he's a good actor and he can easily move away from Batman unlike Mark Hamill who now does voice acting.

gaspernoe wrote:It's like Mark Hamill with Star Wars. He may have been playing the main character but the supporting cast/characters were far more interesting like Han Solo, Darth Vader, Yoda, Ben Kenobi etc. Bale may be playing the titular character but he's not the one most people are interested in. I barely recall seeing him even mentioned in critics reviews of TDK/TDKR. TDK and The Empire Strikes Back in particular are great comparisons as The Joker completely steals the whole film in the same way Empire becomes Vader's movie.

Luckily for Bale though he's a good actor and he can easily move away from Batman unlike Mark Hamill who now does voice acting.

gaspernoe wrote:It's like Mark Hamill with Star Wars. He may have been playing the main character but the supporting cast/characters were far more interesting like Han Solo, Darth Vader, Yoda, Ben Kenobi etc. Bale may be playing the titular character but he's not the one most people are interested in. I barely recall seeing him even mentioned in critics reviews of TDK/TDKR. TDK and The Empire Strikes Back in particular are great comparisons as The Joker completely steals the whole film in the same way Empire becomes Vader's movie.

Luckily for Bale though he's a good actor and he can easily move away from Batman unlike Mark Hamill who now does voice acting.

Man Actually many critics reviews praised Bale in TDKR, even more than Hardy.

nolan's batman changed selina from being a selfish thief. that was her role in the movie. So we could finally see Bruce wayne trying an alternative approach to changing people because beating people up does not work with most because we have to at leats try to understand where they're coming from so that we can rehabilitate them. So I think it is a testament that he did change people because by the end they're treating him as a hero and embrace his morality, whereas at the beginning he was seen as a menace.